How does the comment reflect on the question Why is it difficult for unions and managements in the U.S. to sustain cooperative programs to achieve their goals?

There are many reasons why these programs are difficult to sustain. One of the biggest reasons is that union members and management are in a constant battle over bigger and better things. The outcome of this competition is that the cooperative programs become less significant, or even non-existent. Another reason why these programs do not seem to last long is union rules and management policies (Srensen and Torfing, 2021). These policies create friction for workers and their unions because they want to help their fellow workers but the policies prohibit them from doing so. This affects morale in the negative way, making it hard for workers to believe they can trust their union or management team. Lastly, one of the biggest reasons why cooperative programs do not last is because unionized workers do not like to share power. The team that wins in this argument is the union, not the cooperative. Unionized workers are not looking to benefit themselves but rather they are looking to benefit their employers.

Another reason why these programs go away is because it hard for labor unions and management to achieve their goals like a good profit margin and competitive prices without cooperation with one another; however, throughout history, this has been proved difficult. There have been previous cooperative efforts but they have produced mixed results. For more than 1000 years, guilds and workers have worked together to create a better product (Stone et al., 2020). This has allowed the unionized workers to depend on the cooperative efforts of their guilds for their livelihood. These cooperative efforts go further than just helping the worker; it helps shape their lifestyle as well. As Guilds contributed to the society around them, it promoted social cohesion by providing benefits to all members of society. It provided a sense of community and encouraged respect for one's fellow man.

Labor unions also have this desire for co-operation in order to ensure good results as well; however, they are restricted from doing so by their unions leaders who do not want them working with management directly. It is important to stay on the union's good side (Stone et al., 2020). Unions do not like their members teaming up with management because it takes power from them and puts it in the hands of workers or managements that they do not trust. This competition for power causes unions to lose sight of what matters most - their members (Schmitt, 2021). The Hardiness Committee, who studied cooperative programs in the United States, concluded that when unions and management work together they are able to produce better results, but when they go against one another all they do is get in each other's way. The relationship between unions and management has been competitive ever since labor laws were created (Tortia et al., 2020). These laws made it so unions and management could not partner together and had to stick to the rules of their contracts. Because of this, it has led many to believe that unions and management should not work together as it seems inevitable for them to fail even when they are working towards the same goals.

Another factor that plays into why these programs do not last is because unions are told what they can and cannot do; therefore, they do not see the need to work with management. The union is ultimately responsible for workers' wages, benefits, safety issues, procedures at their job sites and the list goes on; however, the rules put in place by their leaders more often than not make it hard for them to reach a mutual goal (Kawano, 2020). One example of this is the job safety rule put in place by the National Labor Relations Board. This rule requires that all workers can only be fired for "just cause." This means an employer could have firing policies that make it easy to fire workers and still remain in compliance with labor laws. Unions also must follow these rules as well because it will get them in trouble if they do not; however, if a union followed this rule, it would make it hard for them to cooperate with management when they need to make changes.